The sports vacuum that is summer in Athens has arrived.

Six weeks or so remain until the beginning of football practice, and there just isn't much for sports fans around the area to do. That probably means it's time for a trip to the beach or the mountains with the family, taking a little time to relax before everything gets cranked back up again in early August.

With that in mind, I recently composed a to-do list of sorts for the upcoming year. The only problem is, a new job in Atlanta will keep me from following through on much of it.

Thus, I leave the list to you, the sports fans of Athens and Northeast Georgia. Feel free to check them off when completed...

• Watch Quincy Carter sprint out to his right, then fire a pass back across his body 30 or so yards for a completion. Afterward, try the same play yourself (minus the onrushing linebackers) on the North Campus grass just to see how difficult it really is.

• Avoid playing golf in public if the only club you can consistently hit is your putter.

• Get in the car on a Friday night in the fall, drive to Commerce High School, and take in one of the best small-town football atmospheres around. And when No. 7 gets the ball, don't you dare take your eyes off him.

• Heckle the refs, or Billy Donovan, during a men's basketball game at Stegeman Coliseum. Try -- just try -- to keep it relatively clean.

• If you want to see how much endurance you can build up by running six miles a day, every day, watch Aarthi Venkatesan grind her way through a tough singles match.

• Ponder this question: Would Georgia gymnastics meets be just as exciting, athletically speaking, if the actual gymnastics was the only attraction?

• Keep your back elbow up. Hit line drives.

• Realize that all of this year's freshmen at UGA were born after the Bulldogs won the national championship in 1980. Quit talking about Herschel, Buck and Lindsay and worry about the present.

• For God's sake, ask her out.

• Seek out something you've never thought of watching -- like a UGA women's rugby club match -- and find out when the next game is. Have a few beers with the team afterward.

• Try to catch the inevitable smile Tawana McDonald will let slip right in the middle of a big game, and see if the sight doesn't make you grin a little bit as well.

• Shake Jack Bauerle's hand.

• Attempt to comprehend what it must look like to carry the ball into the line and come face-to-face with Richard Seymour and Marcus Stroud.

• Follow the Olympics, but not for the latest incarnation of the Dream Team or a bunch of waifish gymnasts. Check out the local favorites, if NBC deems them worthy of airtime: Kristy Kowal in swimming, Teresa Edwards in basketball, Debbie Ferguson in track, Sheila Taormina in triathlon.

• For that matter, keep an eye on all of the athletes you used to watch around here as they move on to bigger and better things: Kedra Holland-Corn with the Sacramento Monarchs, Champ Bailey with the Washington Redskins, Jake Westbrook with the New York Yankees, Ryuji Imada on the Buy.com Tour.

• Drive to Macon, Greenville, Chattanooga, Columbus or Augusta and watch a minor-league baseball game.

• Try to appreciate the coaching genius of Manuel Diaz. It's hard to do in tennis, with no play-calling or Xs and Os to worry about, but the man is unbelievable.

• Support the events that make this area unique. Even if you've never been all your life, go to the NCAA men's tennis championships or check out the Twilight Criterium. No guarantee that you'll get hooked, but what have you got to lose?

• Have Dan Magill tell you a story, any story.

• Remember that this is all for fun.